Week 1 of the college football season has already produced a crazy finish to a game between No.13 ranked NC State Wolfpack facing off against the East Carolina Pirates.
The game was close throughout, but the tide of the game turned late in the fourth quarter when ECU Pirates running back Rahjai Harris rushed for a three-yard touchdown while down seven points late in the fourth quarter to seemingly tie up the game.
Unfortunately for ECU, kicker Owen Daffer would go on to miss the extra-point to tie up the game, leaving ECU behind by one point.
COLLEGE KICKERS!!!
ECU misses the XP to tie the game up
— Barstool Gambling (@stoolgambling) September 3, 2022
NC State would then go three-and-out on their next possession, giving ECU a chance to win the game on their next possession.
With two minutes to go in the game, Pirates quarterback Holton Ahlers would go on to drive his team 47-yards down to the field to potentially win the game with a game-winning field goal.
This gave Owen Daffer yet another opportunity to put his team in a position to win the game, but he was unable to make the kick, pushing the 42-yard field goal wide to the right and giving NC State a 21-20 victory.
BRUTAL day for the ECU kicker pic.twitter.com/9uSSggGt7F https://t.co/s0YGLjDSOd
— Barstool Gambling (@stoolgambling) September 3, 2022
Many have taken to social media to share just how brutal of a day it was for Daffer on Saturday.
The ECU fans went through it all.
(🎥 ESPN) pic.twitter.com/ZTpGDJ0usO
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) September 3, 2022
#ECU had it….until they didn’t. https://t.co/czDURz9dhe
— Newy Scruggs (@newyscruggs) September 3, 2022
App State and ECU both had the right thing going to pull the upset.
And yet….
— Tim Buckley (@TimBuckleyWX) September 3, 2022
ECU bettors right now pic.twitter.com/ARRGmTZS70
— Action Network (@ActionNetworkHQ) September 3, 2022
ECU going conservative to set up the worst kicker in America from 40-plus. The coaching on display in this country through seven days is pretty shockingly bad.
— Brandon Walker (@BFW) September 3, 2022
The result for ECU is really an unfortunate one considering Daffer is normally a very reliable kicker, being selected to the All-Conference team in the American Athletic Conference last season.
He was even named to the Lou Groza Award watch list at the beginning of the year, an award given to the top kicker in college football each season.
At this point, it seems unlikely that he will receiver that award, and he certainly cost the Pirates a huge upset victory over NC State with his uncharacteristic game on Saturday.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.